Yes - another week's work almost complete. A few hours in the office then home for lunch. Mary and Brian will be there, so we're planning to head down to Aboyne for some golf this afternoon - weather permitting - then meet up at the Potarch Hotel for supper.
Golf at Banchory on Saturday and Sunday - two tournaments that Brian is playing in with me. I'll be ready for a rest on Sunday. I can almost feel my legs - especially my knee - groaning now.
Nothing much to report on the medical front, despite Jo being back at the Doctor's for a follow-up on Wednesday, and me having my annual check-up with the cardiologist last night. They still haven't quite got to the bottom of why Jo has been getting these pains in her chest/ribs, and it's really just more of the same treatment, plus regular monitoring.
Nothing much has changed with my heart either. I still have AF, of course - always will have - it never goes away - but there's been no great change over the last year. The cardiologist says my heart is still strong - it's just the irregular rhythm that presents the risk of stroke, particularly as I get older. They play the statistical game and they reckon that 65 is about the time that I will need to consider changing from my existing daily baby aspirin on to a stronger blood thinner.
Until now, this has usually meant taking Warfarin, but I have an aversion to this after what happened to Mum when she had her fall. They couldn't get the coagulant to work in time to operate. My cardiologist says that by next year I should be able to get my GP to agree to prescribe the new drug they now have to replace Warfarin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabigatran). It's more expensive, but a number of NHS areas are now prescribing it, so I'm hopeful my GP can be persuaded to do so next year as well.
Warfarin requires regular monitoring of blood and can interfere with other drugs. The new drug doesn't require any monitoring and no reactions with other drugs have yet been recorded. It usually doesn't need a coagulant antidote as it doesn't cause bleeding like Warfarin does - although they do say that if you do bleed, there's currently no antidote to stop it!
In other news, Ross was round last night and he was telling us his flatmate (who has paid his share of the rent) is finally back in Banchory and is planning to move in over the next few days. That'll mean a bit of a change to Ross' lifestyle - he's been on his own in the flat for a couple of months now. He did have a temporary lodger for a few days however - a girl who worked in the Douglas, but had a bad time with her violent boyfriend, who made the local news when the police came to take him away - http://www.deesidepiper.co.uk/news/local-headlines/police-present-at-banchory-square-1-3053870
To finish, it was Barry's 59th birthday yesterday. He's looking forward to getting his bus pass next year! Here's he and Helen earlier on this year:
Has he changed much since they were married back in 1994?:
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